Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused
China for flooding the world with its cheap exports.
·
No
joint communiqué: G20 finance ministers and central bank
officials failed to agree on a joint statement, with China
opposing language critical of its export-led economic strategy.
·
U.S.-China
rift: The disagreement highlighted tensions
between the world's two largest economies over China's
excess industrial capacity and large-scale exports.
·
U.S.
criticism of China: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued
that non-market economies producing a
continuous flow of cheap exports are unsustainable,
pointing to China's large current-account surplus.
·
Key
disputed issues: China rejected language concerning:
o Efficient supply chains for critical
minerals;
o Risks of excessive reliance on exports
for economic growth; and
o Faster sovereign
debt restructuring.
·
Chair
statement instead: In the absence of consensus, the U.S.
Treasury issued a chair statement
setting out areas where the G20 members agreed.
·
Global
imbalances: Bessent said the other 19
participating countries supported addressing
global economic imbalances.
·
Russia
issue: Geopolitics also overshadowed the
meeting, with European participants expressing displeasure over the presence of
Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
Bessent defended engagement with Russia and Ukraine as necessary to resolve the
conflict.
·
Iran
war dominates: The conflict with Iran was identified as
a major threat to the global economy because of its impact on energy
prices and inflation.
·
U.S.
sanctions campaign: Bessent said the U.S. was seeking support
from the EU, UK and UAE for
its campaign against Iran, dubbed “Operation
Economic Outcast,” aimed at cutting Iran's economic ties and
imposing sanctions on countries that continue supporting them.
·
Further
sanctions planned: The U.S. Treasury plans additional
sanctions targeting banks facilitating Iranian transactions and
is working to seize Iranian leaders' overseas assets.
·
Strait
of Hormuz: Bessent expressed confidence that oil
transportation would eventually adapt to disruptions caused by Iran's blockade
of the Strait of Hormuz.
·
Trade
tensions with Canada: U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods drew
criticism from G20 participants. Germany's Lars Klingbeil warned that U.S.-led
tariff conflicts undermine trust in global trade and
ultimately hurt all sides.
·
U.S.-Canada
dispute: Bessent dismissed Canada's retaliatory
measures, arguing that the U.S. economy is much larger. Following his meeting
with Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, he said the dispute
would ultimately need to be resolved by the leaders
of both countries.
The
G20 meeting exposed two major fractures in the global economy: a
U.S.-China dispute over China's export-driven industrial model and growing
allied opposition to U.S. tariffs. At the same time, the Iran
conflict and energy-market disruption added
significant geopolitical pressure to the global economic outlook.
[ABS News Service/02.09.2026]
Top
economic officials from the Group of 20 nations were unable to agree on a joint
statement on Tuesday (01.09.2026) because of resistance from China, which opposed
language criticizing its export strategy, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent.
The
dissent from China frustrated the United States, which was hosting the meetings
in North Carolina, and underscored a major rift between the world’s two largest
economies. The United States has for years been growing impatient by China’s excess
industrial capacity, warning that its export strategy is creating economic imbalances
around the world.
“We
believe that nonmarket-based economies pushing out a never-ending stream of cheap
exports is not sustainable,” Mr. Bessent said at a news conference at the conclusion
of the meetings. “It is clear that the country with the world’s largest and unsustainable
current account surplus, People’s Republic of China, was the dissenter.”
In
the absence of a joint statement, or communiqué, the Treasury Department released
a chair statement outlining the areas of agreement from the meeting. But it said
that China had rejected parts of that statement that included language on ensuring
efficient supply chains for critical minerals, the risks of an overreliance on exports
for growth and the importance of speeding up sovereign debt restructuring.
The
Treasury secretary said that he was encouraged that the other 19 countries in attendance
were in agreement about global imbalances. The summit was focused on accelerating
economic growth, increasing business investment and restructuring debt in developing
economies.
Geopolitics
overshadowed some of the economic dialogue, however, as European countries expressed
what Mr. Bessent described as a “sour taste” at the fact that Russia’s finance minister,
Anton Siluanov, attended the meetings in person.
“If
both fighters go in a corner, then there will never be a resolution to this horrible
conflict,” Mr. Bessent said, explaining that engagement with Russia and Ukraine
was critical to ending the war.
The
biggest issue haunting the global economy is the war in Iran, which has driven up
energy prices and fanned inflation. Mr. Bessent said that he had received significant
support for the United States’ initiative to strangle Iran’s economy.
Speaking
on the sidelines of the two-day summit, Mr. Bessent expressed optimism that the
European Union, Britain and the United Arab Emirates were prepared to join the United
States as it embarks on “Operation Economic Outcast.” The Trump administration unveiled
the campaign last week and has warned that countries that fail to sever economic
ties with Iran will face U.S. sanctions and other economic penalties.
“We
are going to economically asphyxiate this regime,” Mr. Bessent said in an interview
with Larry Kudlow on Fox Business.
The
Treasury secretary went on to say that Iran reminds him of the snakes he encountered
as a child growing up in South Carolina. He recalled that poisonous snakes used
to continue wiggling their tails after being decapitated.
“We
are burying the head of the Iranian snake,” Mr. Bessent said. “The snake doesn’t
know it’s dead yet, but it will stop wiggling when the sun goes down.”
Mr.
Bessent said that the Treasury Department would announce additional sanctions on
banks that Iran relies upon to facilitate transactions that fund its economy. He
also said that the department was working to seize Iranian leaders’ assets abroad,
including, specifically, money in bank accounts in the British Virgin Islands.
Last
week, the United States shut down the Dubai branch of an Egyptian bank that the
Treasury Department said had helped Iran evade sanctions.
The
Treasury secretary expressed optimism that the disruptions caused by the conflict
with Iran would be temporary. He predicted that oil transport routes would quickly
adjust to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a consequence of the war.
“In
two years, the Strait of Hormuz will be a worthless piece of water,” Mr. Bessent
said.
While
the United States is trying to marshal global support to confront Iran, it is facing
blowback from American allies over President Trump’s trade policies.
The
newly announced tariffs on Canadian goods have come under repeated criticism from
other attendees at the conference. On Tuesday morning, Lars Klingbeil, the German
vice chancellor, told reporters that “tariff conflicts waged by the U.S.A., such
as currently with Canada, destroy trust” and “ultimately harm everyone involved.”
Mr.
Bessent dismissed the retaliatory measures that Canada, which is the United States’
second-largest trading partner, has taken. He suggested in an interview on CNBC
that the northern neighbor of the United States was too
small to wage a trade war.
“I
don’t think you can be in a tit-for-tat with someone who’s 13 times larger than
you are,” Mr. Bessent said, referring to the size of the countries’ economies.
After
meeting on Tuesday with his Canadian counterpart, François-Philippe Champagne, Mr.
Bessent said that the trade dispute would ultimately have to be resolved by the
leaders of the two countries.